Ian Mulgrew: Is challenging new B.C. court pronouns policy OK or akin to hate speech?
Resolution before the Law Society of B.C.’s annual general meeting poised to put a contentious issue through the gender blender.
In a profession still using M’Lord and M’Lady, some B.C. lawyers have balked at new court rules that ask participants in legal proceedings which pronouns they, he or she prefers.
But the brush fire of controversy sparked earlier this year by the changes has kindled into a blaze with a resolution before the Law Society of B.C. annual general meeting calling for a debate on the directives about consideration for gender differences.
In a world of gay pride parades and respect for transgender individuals, the Canadian Bar Association-B.C. Branch denounced the motion as akin to hate speech.
“This is not a benign resolution,” president Clare Jennings maintained in a message to the roughly 7,000 provincial members of the lobby group.
